A number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) grassroots supporters in Keelung yesterday voiced their disapproval of the party's pro-localization faction, suggesting KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"There are `green' wolves in `blue' sheeps' clothing who publicly and vocally oppose the party and support the A-bian (
In Taiwan's political spectrum, "blue" refers to the KMT and its political allies, the People First Party (PFP) and the New Party, while "green" refers to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU).
"I think the party ought to take disciplinary action on this issue," said Ho, who made the remarks during Lien's visit yesterday with KMT supporters and representatives in Keelung, where Lien made his first stop on his nationwide post-election "thanksgiving tour."
In response to Ho's comments, Lien said that the party needs people with different viewpoints.
"The party today does not need `happy sparrows' to sing words of praise," said Lien at the forum, accompanied by KMT Vice Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and party Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正). "What we need are woodpeckers to peck out the worms and tell the truth, even if the truth might be unpleasant," Lien said.
Given that the "thanksgiving tour" was designed to also floor views from grassroots party members, the number of participants at the event yesterday were not shy in expressing their opinions, with some calling on both the KMT and the PFP to "stop fooling around and to focus on the year-end legislative elections." Others urged the party to step up internal reforms, suggesting the relocation of the KMT headquarters and removing the word "Chinese" from the party's name after its merger with the PFP.
After listening to these views, Lien in his speech claimed that the March 20 election was "unfair" and accused the DPP administration of manipulating ethnic issues.
"I would say that Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his administration's biggest accomplishment so far is to have molded Taiwan into a society that is characterized by sharp divisions and confrontations," Lien said.
Lien then stressed the need for the opposition parties to remain united.
"Not only does the KMT itself need to stay united," Lien said. "The KMT, the PFP, the New Party and even independents should all stand up, come together and take steps toward merging to form a united force."
"The opposition force should not act like a pile of loose sand, because disunity between the opposition forces serves the DPP's cause," he said.
Ma also briefed the audience on the party's plan to merge with the PFP, while Lin explained the findings of the March 20 election ballots judicial recount.
Later in the afternoon, Lien took his "thanksgiving tour" to Taoyuan, accompanied by KMT vice chairmen Wu Po-hsiung (
Lien is slated to take his "thanksgiving tour" to Ilan County on Thursday and Taipei County and Hsinchu County on Friday. He is scheduled to visit Hsinchu City and Miaoli County on Saturday and Hualien and Taitung on Sunday.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS